echoshift - PSP

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echoshift (PSP)
Viewed: 2.5D Side-on, Scrolling Genre:
Puzzle
Media: Custom optical disc Arcade origin:No
Developer: Artoon Soft. Co.: SCEE
Publishers: SCEE (GB)
Released: 26 Feb 2010 (GB)
Ratings: PEGI 3+
Connectivity: Wireless Internet Compatible

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Summary

If you played Echochrome, the extremely devious puzzle game from Game Yarouze and Sony's Japan Studio released via the PlayStation Network, you know it was a devilishly clever affair. Players rotated a 3D world around that was reminiscent of the work of artist M.C. Escher to navigate a marionette from start to finish in a level. The game was marked by a stark, refined black and white design that glued it into the player's mind. Sony Japan, along with newcomer to the series Artoon, has returned to the concept to give it another fresh twist.

Gone are the rotating Escher-esque levels to make way for a new gameplay concept – what Sony calls 'self co-op'. More specifically, you can help yourself complete levels.

In place of the 3D rotating levels seen in the first game are 2D levels littered with puzzles such as moving objects, doors controlled by switches and crumbling floors to navigate, with over 30 different kinds of challenge to to deal with in total.

'Self co-op' makes the whole thing quite a different experience to standard platforming and puzzling fare, however. Players are able to leave 'ghosts' of themselves performing certain actions, then restart levels to get a bit of help from the figure they left behind. It might, of course, be ghosts (plural) that help you make it to the end – up to nine ghosts can be on screen at once.

The game has had a visual overhaul, too. Gone is the purely monochromatic level design of the first title. While the actual level elements retain the clean black and white rendering seen in Echochrome, the backdrops now burst with colour. Be warned, however – while the game might look straightforward, don't expect it to be anything less than devilishly tricky!